Wireless communication systems typically provide at least one control channel and one or more traffic channels for transmitting and receiving information in packets. The control channels carry control information, which is distinct from user data carried in the traffic channels. The user data can be voice or data information. In wireless communication systems information is typically transmitted in packets. The packets are modulated and transmitted in accordance with a multiple access communication technique, such as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM), and the like.
Wireless communication systems typically implement a multiple access communication technique in accordance with a particular industry standard. For example, in the United States wireless communications employing TDMA typically conform to the IS-54 standard, whereas wireless communications employing CDMA typically conform to, for example, the IS-95 standard. Each standard defines, among other things, the size of user data packets employed for traffic channels. Once defined by a standard, the size of the user data packets carried by the traffic channels typically does not vary. Thus, the decision of the user data packet size for each standard requires careful consideration of a number of factors, including whether the user data packets will carry voice or data. User data packets carrying voice information tend to be smaller than user data packets carrying data because user data packets carrying voice information typically are not retransmitted, and accordingly a lost voice packet must not be noticeable to the receiver of the packet. Moreover, a high perceived Quality of Service (QoS) for voice information requires the frequent transmission of smaller packets compared to the less frequent and larger packets employed for data.